Emergency-horseshoe.



J. A. BARRY.

EMERGENCY HORSESHOE. APPLICATION FILED 00122, 1912.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Q'A WITNESSES: v INVEIITUH M g James A fi'arr'y.

A TTORNEVS THE NORRIS PETERS 60., PHDTO-LITHQ. WASHINGTON. D. C.

JAMES A. BARRY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

EMERQENGY-HORSESHOE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Application filed October 22, 1912. Serial No. 727,187.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. BARRY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Bronx, county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Emergency-Horsegshoe, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an emergency horse shoe and more particularly of that type adapted to be positioned over the ordinary shoe to assist a horse in getting a positive grip or foothold on slippery or icy pavements.

The emergency shoes now employed have certain inherent defects among which'may be mentioned first, their complexity of structure, second, the difiiculty in attaching them, and third, their construction is such, embodying as they do projecting pa "ts extending from the shoe, as to seriously interfere with the fast travel of the horse, and, frequently, to gouge and cut the horses ankles.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple device of the class described which may be economically manufactured and will not be apt to get out of order to be broken.

A further object is the provision of a shoe which shall have such a regular and uninterrupted surface around the hoof as will preclude the cutting or gouging of a horse wearing the same.

Among the salient features of the invention may be mentioned the following:- first, the shoe is capable of a wide range of adjustment and can thus be accurately and readily fitted to feet of various sizes as well as to horses having abnormal or deformed. feet; second, the attaching means whereby the device is secured to the foot,

' is of such a simple nature that any one, re-

gardless of mechanical skill, can, without difficulty, properly and quickly attach or detach said shoe; and third, the construction is such that there are no uneven or rough parts which would bruise the frog of the foot, while traveling over rough or stony places.

The invention embodies more specifically, a pair of oppositely positioned side members, each of which embodies means for engaging the side of the hoof, as well as the under part thereof; a front or forward member to which the said side members are pivoted and which serves to retain the front ends of said side members in spaced relation, thereby giving the shoe a wide range of adjustment, and means for securing the shoe to the foot.

In the preferred form of the invention, the attaching pivots, which secure the side members and front member together, are made in the form of calks, whereby they perform a dual function.

Further objects of the invention, and the functions and advantages thereof, will be noted in the following detailed description, read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings 1 have illustrated one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction shown therein is to be understood as illustrative, only and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the emergency shoe in place on a horses hoof, the securing means being shown in disengaged form, for the sake of clearness. Fig. 2 is an underneath plan view of the shoe. showing the ordinary horse shoe in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a. vertical longitu dinal section of the device, taken on line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. i is a vertical transverse section of the same, taken on line i-i of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail of a certain pivoting means, the parts being shown in vertical transverse section, as taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

The emergency shoe of the present invention embodies two side members A, sub stantially alike in shape and size, except that one is the reverse of the other, whereby they are adapted to be placed one on either side of a horses hoof, as shown in Fig. 1. Each of these side members is curved longitudinally thereof so as to more readily adapt itself to the contour of the hoof, and compresses a base or tread a, and an upstanding, inwardly flaring flange a. This flange 0,, is so shaped that it will confoan to the contour of the hoof for a certain distance up the sides and front thereof and is preferably cut away, at a a and a for reasons which will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

At both ends of each of the side members A, and on the bottom of the treads a, thereof, bosses are provided, the bosses 0, being at the rear ends of the side members and the bosses 0', being at the front ends thereof.

These bosses afford additional thickness of material at the ends of the side members so that calks C, may be more securely attached to the shoe.

The calks used may be of any desired form having a threaded shank, which may be screwed into threaded sockets formed in each of the bosses.

The side members A are pivoted at their front ends to a forward member D and, to effect this purpose, the forward calks C are provided with shanks c which pass loosely through apertures in the ends of the forward member and are threaded in the bosses c.

The forward member is preferably offset intermediate its ends, as at (Z, to such eX- tent that its upper face will be flush with the upper faces of the treads (1, whereby said offset portion serves to support the forward part of the hoof. The forward member may be reinforced by a rib or head d, whereby additional strength is secured. It is, moreover, desirable to curve the lateral edges of the member D, so that, should a horse be shod with a shoe having a very large calk at the front, said member may be turned end for end, from the position shown in Fig. 2, thus allowing much more space for the calk, at the front of the emergency shoe.

Horses not infrequently have deformed or abnormally developed feet, and, in order to provide for these conditions, portions of the upstanding flanges a, of the side members are cut away. For example, the cutting away of the base at the rear of the flanges a, is to allow the shoe to be fitted on a horse wearing shoes of the common type having their back edges turned outward. Moreover, it will be observed that the flanges a, are made comparatively thin, and with the flanges cut away, as at a a and a, said flanges may be readily shaped to conform to an irregular shaped hoof.

The construction and arrangement of parts referred to, provide an extremely simple shoe which may be quickly and easily positioned on the hoof by merely drawing it on from the front thereof and securing it in position by a strap E and a buckle E. The strap E and buckle E are mounted respectively on either side member of the shoe, by means of the rivets e, e, and are adapted to engage one another at the back of the hoof.

The wide range of adjustment afforded by pivoting the side members to the comparatively long front member, allows the shoe to be fitted to hoofs of almost any shape. Moreover, in a handling the shoe commercially, several lengths of the forward member D, are provided, which may be substituted at any time for the one in the shoe, by simply removing the two front calks. 'These different sizes of the front member are of such extent that the emergency shoe may be varied by their application,'to sizes running from #2 to #8 of the common shoe. 7

Another important advantage of .appli cants emergency shoe is that it may be worn by a horse whether he is shod or unshod, and the presenceor absence of calks on the usual shoe G, will in no manner affect the wearing ofthe emergency shoe.

Applicant has shownand described the shoeas having a buckle and a strap which are adapted to engage one another and thus secure the shoe to the hoof. In some cases, it may be desirable, however, to provide another buckle and strap which could be held by the same rivets which hold the aforesaid strap and buckle, but which are adapted to be passed over and secured around the top or front of a badly deformed hoof, thereby precluding any chance of the shoe becoming detached. Ordinarily,

however, it is not necessary to use this auxiliary attaching strap, since the wedging effect secured between the side flanges and the hoof, and which is maintained by the strap E and buckle E, is sufficient to hold the shoe securelyin place.

In like manner, certain other changes and adaptations of the shoe to specific needs may be made and, with this in mind, applicant wishes it understood'that he does not care to limit his claims any further than the state of the art may require.

Having fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is I 1. In an emergency horse shoe, thecomhaving a front calk when the spacing mem her is positioned in one position and said spacing member being positionable in its other position when no front calk is prevalent, and straps secured to the flanges of the side members and near the rear thereof, which straps are adapted to encircle the back of the hoof for the purpose of forcing the hoof forwardly into gripping engagement with the flanges at the front of the shoe and drawing the portion of the flange at the rear of the shoe into tight engagement with the hoof.

2. In an emergency horse shoe, the combination of two side members spaced apart and having upwardly and inwardly extending flanges along their outer edges said flanges extending substantially the entire length of the shoe, calks on the road-engaging surface of said side members, means for retaining said calks in position on said side members, a curved spacing member pivotally secured at its opposite ends to the forward ends of the side members by the means which retains the calks in position on the side members, and straps secured to the flanges of the side members and near the rear thereof, which straps are adapted to encircle the back of. the hoof for the purpose of forcing the hoof forwardly into wedging engagement with the flanges at the front of the shoe and drawing the portion of the flange at the rear of the shoe into tight engagement with the hoof.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES A. BARRY.

Witnesses:

M. G. RODRI UEZ, CoRnEmUs ZAHISHIE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0." 

